Saltwater disposal company Expedition Water Solutions will pay $507,325 in penalties as part of a settlement with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment over emissions violations in Weld County, the agency announced this week.
Colorado’s Air Pollution Control Division first discovered elevated benzene emissions at the company’s disposal well sites in Platteville and Kersey in May 2022, and a toxicology analysis determined the levels of benzene to be above health guideline values, according to a news release from the health department Wednesday.
The well sites, used to dispose of wastewater from oil and gas operations, can generate emissions when water is improperly transferred from a truck to the basin.
“We took action to protect Coloradans in a major way with this settlement,” Michael Ogletree, director of the Air Pollution Control Division, said in a statement. “The changes we’re requiring the company to make will have a transformative impact in protecting air quality for the people who live, work, learn and play in communities near the sites.”
In accordance with the settlement agreement, the company will also be mandated to obtain new permits for the disposal well sites requiring them to use economically feasible technology and/or preventative practices to protect the air quality of surrounding communities, according to the news release.
Additionally, it will install equipment at three of its other facilities along the Front Range that will help mitigate emissions violations from past years.
Some of the money received in the settlement will go to the state’s general fund, according to the news release, and the rest will go toward the community impact cash fund created by the 2021 Colorado Environmental Justice Act, supporting the department’s environmental justice grants program.
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